Life Lessons
by Freakin Awesome
Summary: It's Alia's first time on the job and not only does she have lessons to learn but a certain blue reploid is about to learn some important lessons of his own.
1. Chapter 1

Life Lessons

Chapter 1 How NOT to start your first day

"Oh man I'm gonna be so late," muttered Alia as she hurried through one hallway and them another.

"It's my first day on the job and I'm already mixed up." "Where is that darn office?"

Alia had been the newest recruit too unit 17 at Maverick Hunter HQ, she had gotten up very early this morning to make sure she was ready and had been at the door before they were even open. When she finally got inside the monitor had stated that all new recruits needed to report to Commander Signas's office for briefing and to meet their commanding officers. She had been told by the reploid at the front desk that it was right around the corner but when she got there, there were nearly a hundred doors there. She had absolutely no idea which one it was and she ended up walking in on multiple reploids changing into their battle uniforms. She had been wandering around the building for nearly 30 minutes and she was nervous to open any more doors due to more embarrassment. She was about to just give up when she bumped into a group of male reploids just outside of their dorm rooms.

"Excuse me", said Alia, "I wasn't watching were I was going," she started to turn but the biggest one grabbed her arm in a death grip and wouldn't let go.

"Please let go of me sir, I have to get to the briefing room before I get in major trouble."

"Well I'd say you're in trouble already, eh guys this one's pretty cute, its been awhile since we had any new female recruits."

"Especially cute ones, did ya'll see the last one the brought in no offense but she put the "ug" in ugly."

"Yeah, no kidding man I still get nightmares just thinking about it," said the shortest reploid shuddering in disgust.

"So, anyway missy, care to hang out with a couple of tough crackers like us," laughed the tall one.

"No sir, I can't, please let go of me I have to get to the briefing room," but try as she did the reploid's iron grip locked her in place.

"What, you think you're too good for us; well we'll change that real quick." He put his other hand over her mouth and started to shove her back into their room.

Alia was very frightened, she tried screaming but the hand muzzled her mouth so that no sound could escape, she tried kicking at him but it was like being a kitten in the jaws of a lion.

"Don't worry baby we'll take good care of you real soon," the large reploid laughed, "we'll…

"HEY, WHAT DO YOU LAZY BUMS THINK YOUR DOING, GET BACK TO YOUR POSTS NOW," said a loud commanding voice.

"Aw, crap ya'll it's the commanders, we better bolt," said the smallest one. They stumbled over each other as they scrambled to leave the area.

"Are you all right," said the shorter of the two reploids, Alia carefully tried to wipe the tears from her eyes before the two reploids could see it, she thought she hid it pretty well but it was pretty obvious to the reploids how scared she was. "I'm all right, thank you." She managed to look up at them and noticed that the shorter one had blue tinted armor and the other had bright red and while they appeared to be a bit menacing with their size, their eyes seemed very kind, "especially the blue ones," she thought.

"What in the name of Mavericks are you doing in the boy's dorm section," asked the red one, "and near the Tyran brothers no less."

"I...I wa...I was trying to find commander Signas's office for briefing but I've been looking for over 45 minutes and I can't find it." She mumbled. She hated how her voice sounded so small and pathetic especially after they had been so nice to her.

"Signas's Office, well no wonder you can't find it it's on the other side of the building!"

"Hey, come on now Zero there's no need to be so tough on her; we were all rookies at some point."

"Zero, Haven't I heard that name before?" thought Alia.

"Man you have got to come off the softy attitude, it's gonna get you in trouble one of these days."

"It hasn't yet, therefore I'll keep at it, anyway I'll go ahead and escort her to Signas's office, you better get back to your division training before the rookies get out of control," Said the blue one.

"Why do they keep calling commander Signas's name so casually, just how high up on the totem pole are these two," thought Alia.

"Yeah, I guess you're right X, we wouldn't want what happened the last time we left rookies in the training hall unsupervised to happen again would we," Laughed Zero.

"Hey, at least I didn't leave them unattended so I could go fix my majorly long and yet a major pain in the butt to manage hair." X shot back.

"Oh, you did not just go their my friend," laughed Zero, "I'm not the one who ran out my first day because I was freaking out that in the brawl room you actually brawl."

"Oh be quiet and go back to work," said X; however he was trying hard not to laugh as hard as Zero was.

"So their names are X and Zero," thought Alia as she walked quietly behind them, "Wait! X and Zero, as in the S-Class Hunters who defeated the maverick Sigma and are said to be the top fighters in the entire district," "THAT X and Zero." Alia was totally freaking out in her head; she'd just cried and acted really stupid in front of the some of the most powerful reploids on Earth, not to mention her commanding officers. She felt so embarrassed she could feel her face going crimson red. Luckily X and Zero were pretty engaged in their conversation so they didn't really notice which she was very grateful for.

"All right X, take good care of our little rookie here I better get back, see ya later." Zero said as he ran off through the halls.

"Okay then we better head down to the office its right ove…Hey, are you all right," asked X

Alia suddenly noticed that X was looking straight at her and she got very embarrassed. "I… I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused sir." She started to bow but X grabbed her shoulder and raised her up to face him.

"Hey, don't worry about it we were all there at one point, I remember my first day on the job I couldn't find the office either I was late walking in and everyone was staring at me, I was so embarrassed and humiliated that I hid in my dorm for the rest of the day, but once I met Zero and learned the ropes I settled in quite well, you will too, I'm sure of that," said X.

"Th… Thank you sir, I'll remember that," Alia said

"And another thing, you don't have to call me sir, just X will be fine," He smiled at her.

"Al...All right thank you Commander X," and despite having such a rough first morning she found herself smiling back at him.

**Well, here's my first fanfiction, hope you all enjoyed chapter one. Hopefully new chapter we'll be out by the end of the weekend so stay tuned, thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

Life Lessons

Chapter 2 How to operate machinery

"Well X, you and Zero will be responsible for the rookies in sectors 17, 19, and 35, any questions?" asked Signas.

"Just one sir," said Zero, "why exactly are we having model training exercises, instead of simply assigning each new recruit to a basic mission squadron like we normally do?"

"Well Zero," said Signas, "a lot of the new recruits this time around didn't pass the technology exams with very high marks, in fact hardly any of them got any higher than the 40 percent range."

"So, we're doing this as a warm up to make sure the rookies can handle the pressure, is that it?" asked Zero.

"Basically," acknowledged Signas, "if they can't handle the stress of the technological input, we'll send them back to the academy."

"Seems like a lot of pressure to put on newbies who haven't even been here a day," said X.

"You're too soft X, better they find out how weak they are now then later when their weakness hurts someone else," said Zero.

"Very well then, who's in our group anyway?" asked X.

"Let's see, Sandra, Douglas, Amy, C4, Layer, Pallette, and Alia," said Signas.

"Ah, looks like our little rookie ended up tailing after us didn't she?" said Zero.

"If you're referring to Alia I wouldn't worry too much about her," said Signas, "she passed with the highest marks out of all the rookies."

"Oh I don't think it's her grades that will get her in trouble," laughed Zero, "come on X, we better go on down there before Mrs. Alia has another "issue."

"I wonder what they meant by that," thought Signas as X, Zero, and the rest of the group leaders piled out of his office, "something tells me this is going to be a very interesting training session."

**Down at the training hall**

"All right," said Zero, Sandra you'll be paired up with Amy, Douglas you're with C4, Layer and Pallette, you'll be a pair, that leaves Alia."

"I…I can stay in the equipment room and go through the armor parts," Alia said.

"That's a good idea, X can you help her with that, the rest of you come with me," commanded Zero.

"The equipment room is right over here, Alia," said X as he punched in a security code on a keypad linked to a large metal framed door.

"Yes sir," said Alia as she followed him down a dark corridor.

"Alia, what did we talk about yesterday, just call me X, there's no need for you to be formal to me," X said.

"I…I know sir, it's just that I am not sure that I have the right to call you that after my fiasco yesterday," muttered Alia.

"Alia, that wasn't your fault in the least, you shouldn't let it bother you," replied X, "anyway, here is the armor room; it's a bit messier than I remember it."

"A bit messier," thought Alia, "it's an absolute swamp of dust, and oil powered technology."

"Guess I better get the vacuum roid in here," said X. "I'll be right back, ok."

Alia began to dig through a box of spare armor parts and started to sort them by their types. "There are so many different kinds of armor," thought Alia, "Falcon, Gaia, Ultimate, I wonder how the Hunter Base got anything done with such a trashed storage room." Alia had just finished sorting her fourth box when X came back in.

"Wow, you work quickly!" X exclaimed as he began to vacuum up the dust bunnies that had accumulated. "If you navigate as well as you clean then you'll be… Hey, watch out!"

Alia had tripped over the power generator and knocked headfirst into a large stack of boxes that were headed straight for her. She shut her eyes and prepared for the worst but what she hadn't prepared herself for was the fact that X threw himself at her knocking her to the ground landing on top of her just before over 20 boxes fell on both them.

"Uggh, my head," said Alia as she rubbed the sore place on her temple, it was then that she realized X was staring straight at her and he couldn't move because all the boxes had fallen on his back. Alia felt her face grow red. She was utterly shocked that he didn't seem to notice her embarrassment.

"Are you all right, Alia," X asked as he tried to sit up but to no avail.

"Ye… Yes sir, I'm all right, but it would appear that we are stuck," Alia stuttered.

"It would appear that you are right, I can't move or we'll both be squished and you can't move because there's no room, we better try something else," X said as he began to use his free hand to feel around for something.

"Wh…What are you doing sir?" Alia mussed as she tried hard not to let him see her face

"I'm feeling for my communicator, I dropped it when we fell, if I can send a message to Zero he and the recruits can come get us out of this mess," X said as he continued to search.

"Oh no," thought Alia, "if they find us like this, they'll totally get the wrong idea, I'd better do something, quick!"

She spotted the communicator next to her leg and managed to move it just enough to kick it under the armor shelf. "There, that's one problem taken care of now to figure out how to get us out of this," Alia thought as she tried to come up with a plan. She noticed a small crane in the right hand corner and looked at X's machine arm and had a great idea.

"Commander X, Sir, I have an idea as to how we get out of the predicament."

"Well, I can't seem to locate my communicator and were not getting anywhere by staying like this so I'm all ears." X mussed.

"All right, do you see that crane over there," Alia said.

"I know what crane you're talking about but I can't see it very well from this angle," X answered.

"Well the idea is for us to use the crane to push the boxes off of you, in order for us to do that you have to shoot your arm cannon at the on switch on the control panel. Can you do it?" Alia asked.

"I don't know." "I can't see it so you're going to have to help me," X replied.

"How can I possibly assist you?" "I can't even move." Alia commented.

"You don't have to," X stated, "All you need to do is tell what direction to aim my X-buster at and I'll do the rest."

"b…bu…but I can't, if I miss the trajectory by even a centimeter you could hit the ignition tank and it'll exploud."Alia stated. Even though she tried to say it calmly, X could notice a hint of fear in her voice.

"It'll be alright Alia, I know you can do it, and besides even if I do hit the tank we'll still have about a minute before it explodes, we'll get out of this, I promise," X exclaimed.

"All… All right, I'll try."

"Good, now tell me the direction and take your time," X looked at her reassuringly, "I'll make sure you get out this alive, I swear Alia."

"Thank you sir," Alia smiled with a hint of a blush, "now let's get out this!"

"That's my little rookie!"

"Move your arm 3 degrees to right, good, good, now move it clockwise half a turn, now 1 degree to the lef…Stop!...Fire!"

**Well ya'll here's chapter 2, thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy. Review are more than welcome as are suggestions. Thanks for you support!**


	3. Chapter 3

Life Lessons Chapter 3

How to return the favor

"Fire now sir," Alia shouted!

X charged up his buster and in less than a second had blasted a powerful plasma shot at the toggle switch. Good news was he hit it, bad news; it…wasn't the only thing he hit. Unknown to Alia and X however, they had no way of knowing their little miscalculation.

"All right," X said in his "I finished a mission," commander voice. "We should be safe now Alia, the crane should be moving any second now, see, I knew you could do it."

Alia smiled brightly, she felt she had received a bigger honor than her mechanical reploid scholarship, and that was her commander's trust.

"Thank you sir, I'm glad that's over, but we still…

"Have to get out from under these boxes, not to worry though the crane sounds like its moving now," X said with expectancy.

Alia felt greatly relieved for all of about 10 seconds before she looked at the generator and what was once calm face turned to utter turmoil.

"Sir, Look," Alia shouted!

X managed to turn his head slightly and noticed that the generator was shooting sparks of electricity, BIG SPARKS!

"How is that possible, it showed no sign at the tim…"

"Forget that now Alia, we need to leave, NOW!" X shouted.

"HOW, the crane stopped moving!" Alia began to shake in fear as the dawn of destruction settled on her shoulders. "Commander, I'm scared, I don't know what to do, I…I."

"Alia, snap out of it," X practically screamed at her, "I promised you that you would get out of this unharmed, didn't I, and I never break my promises."

X began to push as hard as his reploid body would go on the crates that were straddled to his back. X was strong but the most of the boxes contained facility replacement parts, which weighed nearly 2000 pounds, he could feel his armor cracking under the force he was exerting, his power system began to shut down but not before forcing the crates off his back, he then collapsed out of sheer exhaustion.

"Commander are you all right, Commander!" Alia began to panic; she forced the larger reploids arm over her shoulder and began to move as quickly as she could toward the door, unfortunately she didn't know the security code. She was trapped!

"X, Alia, are you two alright?" someone shouted through the door. Alia quickly noted whose voice it was.

"Commander Zero, Commander X has been hurt and the door won't open and the generator is going to explode any second,"

"Stand back, I'm going to force the door open with my Z-saber," Zero said.

In less than a second the door was slashed to bits and Zero was helping Alia carry X through the door.

"What on earth happened to him," Zero forced himself to ask.

"I… He…We…," Alia sputtered, trying to get the words out her mouth.

"Never mind that now Alia, if the generator really will explode, we need t…" KABOOM!

The last thing Alia saw was a flash of blue light before she blacked out.

Maverick Hunter Medical Facility

Alias's eyelids snapped open and quickly sat up but the pain from her shoulder down to her thigh forced her back down again. As soon as the pain subsided, she forced her head to look around to observe her condition. She realized she was in the medical facility and was covered with scratches and bruises; her right arm was a replacement and her head hurt but she didn't seem to be in to rough shape.

"I see you're awake," a gruff voice said. Alia looked over and noticed Zero leaning on the door frame.

"We're both very lucky," Zero said quietly indicating the scratches and bruises on his body. "If it weren't for X we'd of both been goners.

"Commander X…," Alia said weakly. Suddenly, all the past memories came rushing back to her. "Oh no, is he all right, I remember the explosion and then…"

Zero glanced over the bed next to her and indicated the reploid on it, well… what was left of him.

"Commander," Alia stuttered. X's body was little more than scrap metal, his helmet had a large crack down the middle, his arms were ripped off, and his torso had a hole the size of his X-buster right through the center.

"X's back up power kicked in during the explosion," Zero explained, "at the last minute he turned on his X-barrier over us, we were still hurt but he took most of the blast's damage.

"Will…he be all right sir?" Alia asked.

"We don't know, the damage to his systems was great, it'll be a while before the reploid doctors repair him and even longer before he wakes up, in the mean time you should focus on healing yourself." Zero said as he turned to leave.

As Alia turned from X and began to let sleep over take her, she couldn't help thinking this was all her fault. "If…If I had only been more careful this wouldn't have…sob…sob."

Signas's Office two weeks later

"We've managed to repair the hole and forged him a pair of replacement arms but he still shows no signs of waking up."

"Very well," acknowledged Signas, "continue to monitor him and report back to me of any progress. That will be all, oh, and one more thing, have Zero report to my office immediately."

"Yes sir."

"You wished to see me sir," Zero asked as he entered the office.

"Yes I did, how are your wounds?" Signas inquired.

"I've made a full recovery, have you heard any new information on X," asked Zero.

"As far as we know he's still in pretty bad shape, while the medics have been able to repair his body, his vitals still drop from time to time," Signas stated with concern.

"Isn't there anything we can do, my best friend may as well be dead, and you expect me to sit quietly while the doctors TRY to fix him!" Zero shouted angrily.

"On the contrary Zero, I've called you to this office because I know you want to help," explained Signas, due to the explosion there has been a draining leak within the medical facility, so the medics haven't been able to work at full power."

"So what about it, do you want me to fix this leak?" Zero asked.

"Yes, well… to be more specific I need you to go to sector 11 and find an energy chip," said Signas.

"A junkyard, you want me to go on a scavenger hunt while my friend is dying," Zero raged.

"You must understand Zero, I want to help X too but no one except the medical unit has any hope of fixing him, and even if he is fixed he must recover on his own, the best way for us to help him is by getting the power back up to speed, do you understand?"

"Yes sir, forgive my mouth, please," Zero said quietly.

"I know what you are going through Zero, even though we are maverick hunters, we are all family and not being able to help family hurts us all, but we have to stay positive." "Remember, you and X have been in far worse situations than this."

"Yes sir, I'll be off now," Zero said as he began to leave.

"Oh, and Zero make sure you take Alia with you."

"May I ask why sir?" Zero inquired.

"Well, seeing as how she has recovered physically but not mentally I believe this mission will be good for her," Signas laughed, "also, seeing as how you failed your first electronic chip evaluation test, I'd feel better if you had someone with you who actually knows what you're looking for."

"Very funny sir," Zero noted with annoyance, "I'll go find her then, Zero out."

After her recovery, Alia had returned to her dorm in order to think about everything that had transpired between her, X, Zero, and the storage room.

"I should never have applied for this job," Alia thought to herself, "I got my Commander hurt and I've caused nothing but trouble since I arrived here; everything would have been much better for everyone if I…sob…if I…sob…sob.

Alia then did what she felt she had to do, she began to pack up, she thought to herself, "If I go away, everything can go back to how it was, Commander X and Zero can go back to beating the bad guys like they always do and they won't have to try to help anymore, Yes, this is the only solution."

Alia went to her desk and began to write a letter of resignation, she planned to slip it into Signas's mail box and then simply disappear. She quickly finished the letter, took one last look at her room and wished with all her heart that she could've done something right, She then silently walked out the door.

Alia had just started down the hall when a voice caught her off guard.

"Going somewhere," said a certain long blond.

"Commander Zero!" Alia began nervously, "I was just…going for a walk."

"Really," said Zero sarcastically, "with your headset, briefcase, and a resignation letter in your hand."

"How…How did you?"

"I've seen this scenario too often," Zero said, "You think you're the first to quit because you think you're no good, X did the same thing when he first started."

"But… I hurt him so much because of my stupidity; I've caused you and him so much trouble since I got here. I just wanted to help but all of done is screwed up everything I worked so hard. I was so excited to be working with the two of you but I…I…sob…sob…I.

"Alia!" Zero shouted. Alia was taken aback by his voice and snapped out of her sobs. "You need to snap out of this, do you X and I are perfect, we've made more mistakes than days you've been alive. Some of those mistakes have cost us gravely, we've lost friends, cities, even each other for a time, no one is perfect Alia, we all make mistakes, what's important is that we learn from them," Zero continued. "I won't stop you from turning in that letter, but you should know that if you do X's pain we'll have been for nothing!"

Alias's hands began to shake, she looked at the letter in her hands and then looked at Zero, she then looked back at the letter, took it in her hands and ripped in half.

"Thank you sir," she said, "I feel better now, but I still wish there was something I could do to help."

"Actually that's exactly why I was sent to find you," Zero said, "We have a mission to accomplish, and I need your help to do it, you up for it?"

Alia ran back into her room to prepare for the mission at hand, as she unpacked and then repacked her scouter equipment she thought to herself, "Hold on Commander X, you helped me now it's my turn to help you."

**Here it is, CHAPTER 3, FINALLY, sorry it took so long to upload, tried to make it a bit longer than the last two, chapter 4 will be out soon. Please review, suggestion are of course also welcome. See ya next week!**


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